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Vertex Services Improves Global Understanding with Tableau
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization
Applicable Industries
- Consumer Goods
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Predictive Quality Analytics
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- Data Science Services
The Challenge
Vertex Services, a global distributor of flooring products, faced challenges in accessing and sharing data stored in disparate sources due to its worldwide operations. The company did not have a centralized data warehouse, but rather diverse, discrete applications located across the globe. Many systems, including accounting and order processing, were duplicated or split between the US and Hong Kong offices. Vertex also operates a number of different portals through which partners share data; data from this partner portal was maintained in its own discrete database. This added time to the decision-making process. Another challenge was that the primary analytics and reporting tool for the company was Microsoft Excel, which did not lend itself to the iterative questioning process that leads to true insight. As a result, often decisions were made based on assumptions or educated guesses.
About The Customer
Vertex Services (Vertex) is a worldwide distributor of flooring products with headquarters in Norwalk, CT. The company has key regional offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Montreal, and London. Vertex manufactures its high-quality flooring products in Asia and distributes its wares throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, Africa, and Australia. The company is using Tableau to improve internal communication, speed time-to-insight and enable more data-driven decision-making across its company. One of its top customers is The Home Depot.
The Solution
Vertex began its search for a BI solution by looking at the traditional enterprise players. However, they found these solutions to be too complex and expensive. Vertex next considered Microsoft, but quickly realized it would be too difficult to use for most of the Vertex users. Vertex’s IT contractor in Hong Kong suggested that they take a look at Tableau. Lai and his team quickly realized they found their BI solution. Vertex purchased its first Tableau Desktop licenses in June of 2012. Lai’s team is now working to create a data queue for its wholesale order processing system. Today, the Asian offices of Vertex have two consistent Tableau authors; in the U.S., Smith is the primary Tableau author. All authors create packaged workbooks for Vertex leadership, who consume the visualizations using the free Tableau Reader application. They are also beginning to share analytics with some customers, including The Home Depot.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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